After our swimming, three-fourths of us took a shower. Peyton and I hopped in the shower, while Brandon took a bath. I’d never showered with Peyton before, but for efficiency’s sake, I did it. She started laughing when I turned the water on, and said, “Turn off the rain!” She didn’t mind getting her face wet, and I just tried to get the chlorine off of her. Brandon was on his own, as Dave was arranging our cars since we were headed up to see Dave’s high school/college friends after Cam’s party. We arrived at the park a little late because we were getting ready after swimming. As we were pulling up, Brandon said, “Well, I’m not going to play with anyone, since I hurt my neck.” (Still traumatized about what happened last week) Peyton was still asking for food, but after we told her to wait, she went to play with Dave and Brandon. The food was ready soon enough. It was yummy BBQ, and each kid finished their plate and asked for more. I hadn’t wanted to give either much food, since I didn’t want it to go to waste, but I did give them a variety with veggies, potato salad, and meat. They were both hungry! We thought Peyton would go to sleep in the stroller, but she was too busy looking around. We took her out so she could enjoy the homemade cake that Rachel had prepared. It was yummy – filled with strawberries, topped with blueberries and more strawberries with a light frosting, which Brandon said, “Oh, there’s lemon in here, Mommy.” We put Peyton back in the stroller, and we were going to head out. We were saying our goodbyes when she told me she wanted to be put in the shade. I pushed her away from the crowd, in the shade, and she just zoned out. We knew she was tired, but it was funny she asked to go away. I took Brandon to the restroom, and he saw a flier advertising swim class. He said, “Oh, like the sign I saw at my swim class today!” I had to look at it carefully, but it was the same flier advertising the city’s rec swim program. I was amazed he recognized the paper, having only seen it briefly this morning. Dave says Brandon hones in on things because he doesn’t have outside influences (like cell phones, having to watch the kids, etc) to cloud what he sees. He has a clear slate, and just soaks everything in. Both kids knocked out while we drove up to the next party. It was a casual get together, and we were meeting up with Fred’s and Ernie’s families, along with Dave L. Andrew reminds me of how Brandon was when he was his age. Andrew is only 4 days older than Peyton. Peyton was busy doing the puzzle we brought for her, and Andrew came up and messed it all up, and shoved her pieces under the couch. She just looked at him. I asked where what she should say to him. She said nothing. Then said, “I just do it again.” It was so sad to see her so passive, and let him get away with it. It happened again, and she said, “Look at the boy did.” I asked her what she should say to him. She told him (to his back), “I no like that!” But that was it. Poor thing. The host family had two Maltese dogs, and both kids were fascinated with them. Poor dogs were old, and I think they were probably pretty tired of entertaining these kids. At one point, Peyton was playing hide and go seek with the dog, and she may have gotten her hand too close. The dog may have nipped at her, I’m not sure, but she came back to me and said, “Look at the dog did.” I was told one dog had all her teeth extracted while one had only four teeth. When I looked at her hand, there was no mark at all. There was only a bubble of dog spit on her hand. I asked her, “Did the dog do this?” She welled up with tears and gave her sad face, and started crying. I went to wash off her hand, with soap even, but she was still inconsolable. I had to take her outside to be away from the dogs and be with Daddy. Dave’s friends were clowning him for having such a sensitive little girl, and that she must take after him. She did recover, and did still chase after the dogs after she’d forgotten about it. We stayed until about 7pm, when we knew we should head back since the kids had had a long day. We got them to bed by a little after 8pm, since they’d already taken baths (which Brandon reminded me of). We’re getting worse about taking pictures, and did not have ANY photos to mark our long day today. Not even cell phone pics!
Brandon and Peyton's Blog